Importer Says Frozen Fruit Mixtures Classifiable as Food Preparations of Heading 2106

Mixes of frozen fruits should be classified as food preparations of heading 2106, rather than in the heading in Chapter 8 for fruit deemed to impart the mixture's essential character, an importer said in a motion for summary judgment filed with the Court of International Trade April 18 (Nature's Touch Frozen Foods (West) Inc. v. United States, CIT #20-00131).

The case concerns mixtures of frozen fruit from Canada imported between June and November 2018 by Nature's Touch. CBP classified and liquidated the items under various subheadings of heading 0811, which covers "Fruit and nuts, uncooked or cooked by steaming or boiling in water, frozen, whether or not containing added sugar or other sweetening matter," and collected duties of 3.4% (bananas), 10.9% (mangoes), and 14.5% (other fruits). Nature's Touch filed a protest in 2019 seeking reclassification under subheading 2106.90.98, which would make the items duty-free under USMCA. CBP denied the protest in July 2020. Nature's Touch then filed a suit at CIT.

The tariff schedule includes specific subheadings for mixtures of fruit, but heading 0811 for frozen fruit contains no such provision, Nature's Touch said. Because it doesn't, mixed frozen fruit is more specifically described elsewhere, namely in heading 2106 as food preparations not elsewhere specified, the importer said.

CBP appears to have "turned to General Rules of Interpretation 3(b) and 3(c) ... classifying [the frozen fruit mixtures] as if they consisted solely of the single component which imparts their 'essential character ...," the brief said. Nature's Touch argues the application of GRI 3 was inappropriate because "only if the headings and Section and Chapter Notes do not determine classification does one look to the subordinate GRIs." Nature's Touch also says that CBP appeared to use 10-digit statistical subheadings created by the International Trade Commission for mixes of frozen fruits in its initial classifications. The statistical subheadings are "not part of the legal language of the tariff" and do "not convert subheading 0811.90.80 into a provision covering mixtures," Nature's Touch said.